The present application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/SE00/01032, filed May 23, 2000 and published under PCT Article 21(2) in English, which claims priority to Swedish Application No. 9901868-1, filed May 25, 1999. Both application are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a hinge arrangement for vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates to a hinge arrangement for passenger cars intended for decreasing injuries to pedestrians that are run into. The hood is hinged around two applied hinges at the rear end of the hood whereby the hood is compliantly arranged to pick up impacts in the vertical direction.
2. Background Information
A great number of the people being injured or killed in traffic are unprotected pedestrians that are run into by passenger cars. In a collision involving a pedestrian being struck by the front of a passenger car, often the pedestrian falls over the hood of the vehicle, with the pedestrian""s head colliding with the hood vertically from above at a high kinetic energy. Adults tend to collide with their head against the hood mainly in the rear half of the hood, while children typically collide with their head against the front half.
It is known to design hoods compliantly in order to protect pedestrians. It is also known to attempt to increase the distance from the front of hood to its underlying hard components over different parts of the hood, i.e., obtaining a deformation length that is sufficient enough to brake the pedestrian""s head before it hits hard components. An important problem in this context, which presently has not been solved satisfactorily, is how to fix both hood hinges for those hoods having hinges arranged at the rear end of the hood. The risk for an adult pedestrian being run into is comparatively great that he hits the head at or close to the rear hinges fixings. In conventional constructions, these are rigidly connected to the car body and therefore would cause contusions to a head falling heavily down on the hinge fixing.
In German Patent Application DE 19 71 2 961 A (xe2x80x9cthe xe2x80x3961 applicationxe2x80x9d), a safety mounting for the front hood of a vehicle is described. According to this design, sensors are provided for detecting a collision with a pedestrian, thereby activating a compressed spring or releasing an explosive charge. The spring or explosive charge lifts the hood above the hinges, forming a compliant deformation length between the hood and the compact parts in front of the hinges. Understandably, by using a sensor and compression spring or explosive charge combination, this construction is particularly complicated.
Further, the xe2x80x3961 application mounting has several drawbacks. For example, there is the risk of the compression spring releasing or explosion charge occurring unintentionally, which may occur in a collision not involving a pedestrian. Also, when such a release unintentionally occurs, the effort to reset the device can be difficult and time demanding. There is also the risk that, in a collision, the rear mounted hood is displaced backwards into the windshield, risking injury to the driver and any passengers.
German Publication No. 27 11 339 (xe2x80x9cthe xe2x80x3339 publicationxe2x80x9d) describes a device wherein the hood is lifted up above the rear fixings of the hood in connection with a collision that displaces the hood backwards. However, this publication does not describe a solution for hinges. Further, the hood must be displaced backwards in order to lift up the hood in the rear. In such a design, a pedestrian that is hit can be thrown head first into the hood at or near the fixings prior to the hood being displaced backwards. This can cause the pedestrian""s head to hit the hard fixings directly. Also, like the xe2x80x3961 application, there is a major risk that the hood will hit into the windshield if displaced backwards.
Passenger car hoods are compliantly shaped to collision impacts from above. The hoods bend and curve differently at different locations in an attempt to create a sufficient deformation space between the hood and the underlying hard components. Should the hood be displaced in connection with a collision, there is no controlling the deformation spaces under the hood to ensure that they are sufficient.
In European Patent No. 0 644 104 B1, a similar solution to the xe2x80x3961 application and the xe2x80x3339 publication is described. Here, a lifting device is described that is arranged to lift the rear end of the hood when the hood is displaced backwards in a collision. Still, although the problem has been long recognized, no satisfactory solution has been provided.
The present invention provides a simple solution for the problem discussed above with a hinge arrangement for a vehicle that decreases the amount or degree of injury to a pedestrian struck by the front end of the vehicle. The hood of the present invention is hinged around two applied hinges at the rear of the hood. The hood is also disposed so that it picks up impacts in the vertical direction.
The hinge arrangement of the invention is such that the hinges are fixed in two rods connected at the hinges. One of the rods is a draw rod that receives forces in the longitudinal direction of the hood, and substantially stops the horizontal displacement of the hood in connection with a collision between the passenger car front and another object, such as a vehicle or a pedestrian. The second rod is a vertical rod arranged to deform at a vertical collision impact when hit by a predetermined vertical load. This rod is shaped so that it is able to receive the vertical load during a predetermined deformation length.
It should be observed that the term xe2x80x9cverticalxe2x80x9d used here in the description and patent claims should be given an interpretation broader than that normally related to this term. The term is used to describe an impact into the hood that comes from above. Hoods of different cars have different inclinations proportional to an absolute vertical plane. In a collision between a pedestrian and a passenger car front, the head of the person will hit the hood in a direction relative to the horizontal plane that is less than about 90xc2x0, and usually in a direction of about 50xc2x0.